Adventures in Raphael-Sitting
by BurnThoseEyesBlue
Summary: Donnie gets stuck babysitting Raph for an afternoon. How hard can turtle-sitting be, after all? *Can be read as a stand alone or set in the Turtle Tot Trouble universe*


**Well, I know that Turtle Tot Trouble is over, but I really really reallyyy love baby!Raph. (After all, who doesn't?) So, if you guys haven't read TTT before, you just need to know that in this, Raph is 4-5 years old. Other than that I think it's self explanatory; it's pretty stand alone-ish. But y'all will have to be the judge of that.**

 **This one-shot is for RandomQueenA, who gave me these ideas back in March, and that I'm just now writing. I hope you enjoy it! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any TMNT... Shell, I don't even get creds for this fic idea, LOL.**

 **R &R!**

* * *

Donatello never quite understood how Splinter did it. Shell, Splinter had four kids to look after, and he and his brothers could barely look after one.

Even now, Raphael was God-knows where, probably breaking another lamp for him to fix.

Donnie glanced at the ever growing pile of thing to fix towering next to him and groaned, burying his face in his hands.

There was a knock on his lab door, and he turned around to face it. "Yeah?"

Leo stuck his head in, bandana lopsided on his face, doing his best to peer at Donnie with his one uncovered eye. He looked exhausted, and Donnie mildly debated giving him some of his secret coffee stash.

Nah.

He opened his mouth to ask Donnie a question, when a little giggled sounded from behind him. Both turtles stiffened. Raph poked his head through Leo's legs and squealed.

"I wanna play with 'Nie now!" Raph ran over to Donnie and poked his leg. "'Nie. 'Nie. 'Nieeeeee. 'Nie-'Nie. 'Nieeeeeeee-'Nieeeeeeeee. 'Nie."

Leo smiled sheepishly at his younger, greatly unamused brother. "I'll pick him up later?" Donnie glared, and Leo backed out and cracked the door shut.

Raph, bored with poking, hopped up into Donnie's lap. "I wanna play wit' you now!" He beamed. Donnie couldn't help but smile back, even though he did think he was going to have a bruise where Raph kept jabbing him by tomorrow.

"Why don't you go get your cars and bring them back here?" Donnie said. Raph nodded and hopped down, scampering out of the lab.

Donnie took a deep breath. How hard could this babysitting thing be, anyhow?

There was a cry and then the sound of glass shattering out in their living room. Donnie growled and ran a hand over his eyes.

"Yoo, little dude! How'd you break the TV?" Mikey said, and Donnie groaned.

Apparently pretty freakin' hard.

* * *

There seemed to be a lull in the lair. Leo and Mikey were both conked out in the living room, sprawled out all over each other. Raph was unusually silent, laying on his plastron in a corner of Donnie's lab, running his blue car over a bunch a empty boxes with roads and smiley faces that Donnie had drawn on for him. Splinter was in the dojo meditating, and Donnie was trying to fix the now-broken TV. (Leo had come in a panic about missing the new Space Heroes episode that was premiering later that night).

Donnie would throw occasional glances towards his charge every now in then, but Raph seemed perfectly happy to smash his cars together with minimal sound effects.

In fact, Donnie was so focused on his task at hand that he didn't even notice a visitor sneaking up behind him.

"Donnie," someone laid a hand on his shoulder, and he jumped up and shrieked. He whipped around, an amused girl standing with her arms crossed in front of her. There was a plastic bag sitting on the ground beside her, and Raph was already looking at it with interest.

"A- April!" Donnie stuttered, steadying himself against his desk. She giggled. "I mean, April..." He tried to pose coolly, only succeeding in knocking his toolbox on the ground. He and April both bent down to pick it up and knocked heads. "Oh, shell." He cursed. April rubbed her forehead and winced.

Raph's eyes were immediately on Donnie. "'Nie, are you 'kay?" He jumped up and rushed over to his brother. He used the chair to step up and plant a kiss where he bumped it. "All better!"

April awwwed. "You're so sweet, Raphie." Raph stuck out his bottom lip.

"I'm not sweet. Daddy says that kissing makes the pain go 'way." Raph looked back up at Donnie. "Right?"

Donnie grinned, a soft look in his eyes. "That's right, Raph." Donnie rubbed the top of Raph's head and turned back to April. "Sorry no one was there to greet you. We're all a little, uh, preoccupied." Raph blinked up innocently.

April smiled. "It's okay. I can't stay long; I just wanted to swing by to bring Raphie some more toys. He was telling me the other day he couldn't find any of his." She winked at Donnie and handed Raph the plastic bag she brought. Raph stepped up next to Donnie's leg and pressed his cheek up against it, looking into the bag with wide eyes.

"What do we say, Raph?" Donnie asked, giving him a little nudge.

"Thank you, Auntie April." He beamed up at her. He opened up the bag and peered inside. He let out a squeal. "It's a toolbox! 'Nie said I couldnt pway with his!" He held it up and showed it to his brother. "Look, 'Nie, now I can be jus' like you!" Donnie's face lit up.

Raph ran over to April and squeezed her leg. "Thank you!" He dashed back off to his corner and plopped down, cars forgotten. He opened it up and immediately starting digging inside.

"That was really sweet of you, April. You didn't have to bring anything over." Donnie said.

April waved it away with the back of her hand. "Leo told me that you guys didn't have many of your toys still. It was the least I could do. Besides, I would've done it for you, too."

Donnie flushed red and let out a high-pitched, awkward giggle.

April smiled. "Uh, I probably need to be going, now. I have to go to this tutoring session. Maybe I'll swing by later, to see the others?" She turned and started heading out the lab, grinning at Donnie and giving Raph a wave. She walked out the door, and Donnie immediately sank down into his chair.

"Well, I think that went well." He said. He glanced over to Raph, who was sitting on his haunches looking at him with his head tilted to the side.

"'Nie? Do you want to marry Auntie April?" Raph blinked innocently.

There was a slight knock on the door, and both turtles swiveled around to see April standing there, cheeks as red as her hair.

Donnie's face turned another shade darker, and he stared at April with a deer-in-headlights look.

"I, uh, forgot to leave you these pizza coupons," she said, waving a few slips of paper in the air. Her eyes stayed trained on the ground, cheeks on fire. "I'll just leave them next to Mikey. Bye?" She waved and met brief contact with Donnie. Both of their cheeks flushed even more, and she turned and left.

Donnie buried his face in his hands and groaned.

"Is that a yes?"

* * *

It had been a long day. Donnie had worked his tail off trying to fix the TV before Leo's show came on, which he did, of course. He successfully fixed two of the five lamps Raph knocked over in his and Mikey's pillow fight from earlier. Shell, he even watched his little brother all day, and no harm had come to him.

Except with April.

Donnie could feel his cheeks heat up in embarrassment at the mere thought of April overhearing Raph's question. Yeah, he didn't mean for her to hear, and he was just a curious little kid, but Donatello had never wanted to sink down into the Earth and die more than he did in that very moment.

Donnie set down the screwdriver he was holding and rubbed his eyes. He looked over at his clock and 2:47AM flickered back.

 _That's not too late..._ he thought, returning back to his work. He did have three more lamps to finish, after all. But first...

He wheeled his chair over to another table, a beaker of golden ooze shining softly. Donnie pulled up the tests running on his computer.

ERROR: UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE.

Donnie sighed and put his head in his hands. He was so close to finally being able to create the antidote, and then he'd get his brother back.

Well, he did have his brother. But this Raphael wasn't the Raphael that Donnie grew up with. This Raph wasn't _his_ brother.

He heard his lab door creak open, figuring it was probably Leo going to attempt to force him to get some sleep.

"I don't care how much you bribe to take away the coffee, Leo, I'm not going to bed."

Someone sniffled behind him. "I'm not Leo." Donnie turned around.

"Raph? What are you doing up? It's late; you should be in bed." Donnie frowned. Raph rubbed at his eyes and yawned, clutching one of his blankets.

"I can't sleep." He said. "I don't want to have a nightmare again." He looked up pitifully. "Us'lly Leo will scare the bad dreams away, but Leo's with Daddy." Raph did his best rendition of Mikey's puppy dog eyes. "Can I stay with you instead?"

Donnie glanced at the unfinished project left on his desk longingly, sighed, and stood up. "Why don't we go back to your room instead?" He held out his hand and Raph grabbed it, and together they headed off to Raph's room.

It was silent except for the tiny pitter-patter of Raph's feet, and Raph swung Donnie's hand, clutching his blanket to his chest and yawning blearily.

When they got to his bedroom, Raph hopped up into his bed and snuggled down, and Donnie sat on the edge of his bed. He tucked the blankets around Raph's shell, and his brother's eyes started flickering closed.

"Will you stay?" Donnie leaned back against the headboard, and Raph snuggled down into his side, head tucked in the crook of Donnie's arm. Donnie was absentmindedly playing with the edge of his bandana tails.

"'Nie?"

"Yeah, Raphie?"

"When will I be normal again?" Raph whispered. Donnie froze and looked down.

"I don't know," Donnie said.

Raph blinked and screwed up his beak. "That's okay. You're doing your best. I love you, 'Nie."

"I love you too, Raph."

* * *

"Donnie?" Mikey stuck his head in the lab, looked around, then pulled his head out and shook it at Leo. "He's not in there."

"Where is he?" Leo said. Mikey shrugged, and Leo sighed. "Maybe he's out fixing something in the tunnels." He looked at his T-Phone. "It's almost time to wake Raph up for breakfast though."

Mikey's eyes lit up. "Can I go get him?" Leo narrowed his eyes, and Mikey put a hand over his heart. "I promise I won't scare him this time." Leo rolled his eyes.

"Sure. Let's go." The orange and blue clad brothers walked off in the direction of their youngest brother's room. When they got there, the door was cracked, and Mikey tiptoed in.

"Bro," Mikey whispered. "We found out where Donnie is." Leo snuck in after his baby brother and smiled.

There was Donnie, alright, cuddled up with his youngest brother. Raph's head was on Donnie's stomach, drool pooling in the creases of his plastron. Donnie's legs and right arm were hanging awkwardly off the bed; Raph was laying on the other one.

"You know," Mikey whispered suddenly. "I think we can let them sleep in for a day." Leo nodded in agreement. Mikey turned and snuck back out of Raph's room, but Leo stayed standing at the foot of the bed. He picked up the blanket that was in a heap on the floor and covered Donnie's legs with it.

 _Sleep tight, guys._

* * *

 **Don't you just LOVE Donnie & Raph fluff? You can never have too much of it. **

**I figure that I should probably explain that when Raphie asks Donnie when he'll be normal again, it's more of a subconscious thing. He doesn't have any of his memories for the next ten years of his life. In my mind, it's like instinct that he knows something's not right, but in his subconscious, his normal self comes out a bit.**

 **Hope y'all liked it! (Especially you, RandomQueenA!) R &R**!


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